Baiting

[Igor]

Baiting of deer and elk violates the concept of fair chase.  Just my 2˘.

Just wondering how you feel about someone shooting elk or deer that are eating apples in a apple orchard or apple trees planted by a old homestead? Would that be “fair”?
Hunters often target animals by locating food sources and killing them coming or going or in the food plot. Is this unethical?
Why would you care how anyone else legally fills their tag? Do you want to impose your personal ethics on other hunters? If so, why?

Guess I will just defer to how Boone and Crockett defines it:

FAIR CHASE, as defined by the Boone and Crockett Club, is the ethical, sportsmanlike, and lawful pursuit and taking of any free-ranging wild, native North American big game animal in a manner that does not give the hunter an improper advantage over such animals.

[gaddy]

And how do you feel about baiting bears, would you hunt a berry patch if you found one ?

[Rainier10]

There are those that say that a deer or elk at 950 yards has no idea the hunter is there and they don't stand a chance of getting away.  A savy marksman at 950 yards has an unfair advantage at that point.

The definition of unfair advantage is going to be different for almost every hunter.  If you ask 100 hunters 10 questions about advantages in hunting you wouldn't get more than 5 of them to give you identical answers to all 10 questions.

[Igor]

Where is the popcorn emoji?
These threads usually get pretty lively 

[huntnfmly]

I think as sportsman we constantly shoot ourselves in the foot every time we tell another user group or ones we don't agree with that they shouldn't be able to do it their way as in the baiting issue we are slowly losing that option and every time Wdfw has a poll and hunters who don't do it say we shouldn't be able to do it we get divided more and more

[7mmfan]

The overall impression I've gained from other hunters in the last year or so of getting familiar with hunting is that the overall deer population in Washington is hurting.  In that kind of environment, does baiting contribute to or detract from the overall health of the population?

My current view on baiting is that it would lower the degree of difficulty required to harvest a deer to such a level that widespread adoption of the practice would noticeably reduce overall deer numbers year on year.  If we want to continue hunting season after season, it seems like the rules around what we can and cannot do need to be focused on what's in the best interests of the overall population.  If that's demonstrably wrong, please elaborate.

Overall that's not an bad view on the situation. But in reality, baiting has always been legal here and only a fraction of hunters choose to implement it. To properly bait for deer or elk requires WAY more work than most people are willing to put into it. I don't think that baiting in Washington has any tangible effect on harvest or populations.

[StoneTrees]

Overall that's not an bad view on the situation. But in reality, baiting has always been legal here and only a fraction of hunters choose to implement it.

When was the rules on baiting changed?  Genuinely curious as, since I've been on the scene, baiting has been illegal or rather defined as such by WDFW:

You cannot use bait to hunt black bear in Washington State.

In accordance with WAC 220-414-030, it is unlawful to hunt for deer and elk using any type of bait placed, exposed, deposited, distributed, scattered, or otherwise used for the purpose of attracting deer or elk with the intent to hunt them, if the volume of bait accessible to wildlife exceeds 10 gallons. Bait sites of an individual license holder cannot be placed within 200 yards from another known bait site or another bait site of the same license holder.

There are some exceptions to this rule. They include:

- Hunting on or over locally common agricultural and ranching practices, including salt or mineral distribution and feeding.

- Hunting on or over food that is available from undisturbed wild, volunteer, or planted vegetation, including fruit trees, orchards, vineyards, and food plots.

- Hunting on or over scents used for cover and attractant that are not consumed by animals.

- Hunting on or over naturally occurring mineral deposits.

- Using bait as authorized by a department permit issued to address a management objective.

The exceptions do not include accidental or intentional spills, dumping, or storage of agricultural produce, feed, or bait.

A violation of this section is punishable as an infraction under RCW 77.15.160 if no animal has been shot or killed and RCW 77.15.410 if an animal has been shot or killed.

For more information on baiting for the purposes of hunting deer or elk, see the most current Big Game hunting pamphlet, located on the WDFW website at http://wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/regulations/.

Per Washington Administrative Code 220-414-090, it is illegal to hunt waterfowl, wild turkeys, or deer with the use or aid of electronic calls and battery powered or other electronic devices as decoys. This information can be found in the most recent Migratory Waterfowl and Upland Game pamphlet, located on the WDFW website at http://wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/regulations/.

This is taken from the help section of the WDFW website.

[Shannon]

Baiting bear is illegal but its legal for deer and elk.

[idahohuntr]

Baiting of deer and elk violates the concept of fair chase.  Just my 2˘.

Just wondering how you feel about someone shooting elk or deer that are eating apples in a apple orchard or apple trees planted by a old homestead? Would that be “fair”?
Hunters often target animals by locating food sources and killing them coming or going or in the food plot. Is this unethical?
Why would you care how anyone else legally fills their tag? Do you want to impose your personal ethics on other hunters? If so, why?

Guess I will just defer to how Boone and Crockett defines it:

FAIR CHASE, as defined by the Boone and Crockett Club, is the ethical, sportsmanlike, and lawful pursuit and taking of any free-ranging wild, native North American big game animal in a manner that does not give the hunter an improper advantage over such animals.

I think the best way to evaluate fair chase: Does (insert method here) still allow the animal a reasonable opportunity to detect and evade the hunter? 

For baiting, I argue that it is still fair chase in that nothing about baiting reduces an animals ability to detect and escape a hunter.  They could be winded, see movement, escape to cover, etc.  Whether it's a bear, a deer, whatever.   

For long range hunting/shooting - at some point I would argue its not fair chase (and its situation dependent).  Are you so far away the animal has no chance of detecting and evading you?  In which case you are just shooting and not hunting.

Anyways, my 

[vandeman17]

Baiting of deer and elk violates the concept of fair chase.  Just my 2˘.

Just wondering how you feel about someone shooting elk or deer that are eating apples in a apple orchard or apple trees planted by a old homestead? Would that be “fair”?
Hunters often target animals by locating food sources and killing them coming or going or in the food plot. Is this unethical?
Why would you care how anyone else legally fills their tag? Do you want to impose your personal ethics on other hunters? If so, why?

Guess I will just defer to how Boone and Crockett defines it:

FAIR CHASE, as defined by the Boone and Crockett Club, is the ethical, sportsmanlike, and lawful pursuit and taking of any free-ranging wild, native North American big game animal in a manner that does not give the hunter an improper advantage over such animals.

I think the best way to evaluate fair chase: Does (insert method here) still allow the animal a reasonable opportunity to detect and evade the hunter? 

For baiting, I argue that it is still fair chase in that nothing about baiting reduces an animals ability to detect and escape a hunter.  They could be winded, see movement, escape to cover, etc.  Whether it's a bear, a deer, whatever.   

For long range hunting/shooting - at some point I would argue its not fair chase (and its situation dependent).  Are you so far away the animal has no chance of detecting and evading you?  In which case you are just shooting and not hunting.

Anyways, my 

I wasn't going to get in on this but thought I would add to your first point. Many guys/gals who have never baited don't realize how much work it takes and how it doesn't make it easy. Sure, you might be able to shoot a young buck or cow or something but mature animals are on full alert when around bait. Plenty will very rarely, if at all, come into them during daylight hours or when they do, every sense is 100% going.

[Blacktail Sniper]

Interesting read on the fair chase topic:

THE BOONE AND CROCKETT CLUB ON FAIR CHASE, 9/5/2016.

https://www.boone-crockett.org/pdf/On_Fair_Chase.pdf

[Blacktail Sniper]

Overall that's not an bad view on the situation. But in reality, baiting has always been legal here and only a fraction of hunters choose to implement it.

When was the rules on baiting changed?  Genuinely curious as, since I've been on the scene, baiting has been illegal or rather defined as such by WDFW:

You cannot use bait to hunt black bear in Washington State.

In accordance with WAC 220-414-030, it is unlawful to hunt for deer and elk using any type of bait placed, exposed, deposited, distributed, scattered, or otherwise used for the purpose of attracting deer or elk with the intent to hunt them, if the volume of bait accessible to wildlife exceeds 10 gallons. Bait sites of an individual license holder cannot be placed within 200 yards from another known bait site or another bait site of the same license holder.

There are some exceptions to this rule. They include:

- Hunting on or over locally common agricultural and ranching practices, including salt or mineral distribution and feeding.

- Hunting on or over food that is available from undisturbed wild, volunteer, or planted vegetation, including fruit trees, orchards, vineyards, and food plots.

- Hunting on or over scents used for cover and attractant that are not consumed by animals.

- Hunting on or over naturally occurring mineral deposits.

- Using bait as authorized by a department permit issued to address a management objective.

The exceptions do not include accidental or intentional spills, dumping, or storage of agricultural produce, feed, or bait.

A violation of this section is punishable as an infraction under RCW 77.15.160 if no animal has been shot or killed and RCW 77.15.410 if an animal has been shot or killed.

For more information on baiting for the purposes of hunting deer or elk, see the most current Big Game hunting pamphlet, located on the WDFW website at http://wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/regulations/.

Per Washington Administrative Code 220-414-090, it is illegal to hunt waterfowl, wild turkeys, or deer with the use or aid of electronic calls and battery powered or other electronic devices as decoys. This information can be found in the most recent Migratory Waterfowl and Upland Game pamphlet, located on the WDFW website at http://wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/regulations/.

This is taken from the help section of the WDFW website.

Like has been said, bears are off-limits, but deer & elk can be, from page 88 of the hunting regs on baiting deer & elk:

[Lucky1]

The overall impression I've gained from other hunters in the last year or so of getting familiar with hunting is that the overall deer population in Washington is hurting.  In that kind of environment, does baiting contribute to or detract from the overall health of the population?

My current view on baiting is that it would lower the degree of difficulty required to harvest a deer to such a level that widespread adoption of the practice would noticeably reduce overall deer numbers year on year.  If we want to continue hunting season after season, it seems like the rules around what we can and cannot do need to be focused on what's in the best interests of the overall population.  If that's demonstrably wrong, please elaborate.

Baiting is a effective way to harvest a animal. It is legal and has been widely used in Wisconsin and Texas for years. Their deer populations seem to be stable and well managed.
I am not sure how competent our game managers are in this state. Getting good data on the population of Blacktail deer may be more difficult than whitetails, I don’t know.
The game department is responsible for setting season length and bag limits.
Our WDFW seems to be run by politics rather than science.
If populations are down they can shorten seasons to reduce harvest.
I don’t agree with them outlawing the hunting methods of some hunters over other the methods of other hunters.
Done with my rambling post.

[bornhunter]

Where is the popcorn emoji?
These threads usually get pretty lively 

 

[bornhunter]

Can you legally bait for coyotes?